[Nell]

[QUOTE=Phoenix;360882]I agree about lines dying out. You only have to think of the huges numbers of medeavil surnames that have gone.

By chance, I'm reading a biography of William Marshal [sic], The Greatest Knight, by Thomas Asbridge. In the epilogue it reveals that although William built up a huge portfolio of property and had 10 children to continue his line, none of the males (5 sons, one of whom had to leave the monastery when the elder 3 died) had legitimate heirs.

Lots of surnames in my family tree have died out as the male heirs have died without other male heirs to inherit the name.